Men’s Volleyball Downed by Baruch in CUNYAC Championship
Baruch Wins Sixth Straight CUNYAC Crown
John Scarinci, Director of Sports Information
NEW YORK, N.Y.— In the 2014 CUNY Athletic Conference Men's Volleyball Championship, the York College men's volleyball team came up short against heavily-favored Baruch College by a score of 3-1 (19-25, 25-22, 25-16, 25-14) on Friday night.
With the win Baruch (27-10) has now won six consecutive CUNYAC Championships and will receive an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament. As a consolation, York (20-18) is hoping to receive a bid to the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championship South Region Tournament.
The Cardinals came out strong in the opening set, hitting .250 as a team, while holding the Bearcats to a .095 percentage. York held a narrow lead for most of the set and pulled away down the stretch to make a statement against the #15 team in NCAA Division III.
The second set was another tight one. With the score tied at 7-7, Baruch opened up a little bit of a cushion, and went ahead 15-11 thanks in part to three kills from CUNYAC Player of the Year Jack McKee. The Cardinals would battle back though and eventually tied things up at 16-16 after a kill from
Leszek Stankiewicz. But Baruch scored the next two points and then never relinquished the lead, holding on for a 25-22 victory.
Baruch won the third set on the strength of its service game, as they collected five aces. Scott Standring had three of those consecutively in the opening moments of the set. Chris Kaimis had the other two, and the latter gave Baruch a 17-10 advantage. York would rattle off five straight points immediately after but could get no closer than that.
The fourth set was all Bearcats. York was held to a .000 hitting percentage, while Baruch had its best set, hitting .458. The set was tight in the beginning but the Bearcats pulled away, thanks to a 7-2 run late in the set.
York's
Bryan Williams and
Randy Adams were named to the All-Tournament Team for their efforts. Williams had a team-high 12 kills and hit .333 in the Championship match, while Adams recorded nine kills, six digs and two blocks.
Sebastien Francois added six kills and six digs, while
Avinash Thomas has 29 assists and seven digs.
Baruch had a number of big performers. Standring had 43 assists, eight digs and five aces, while McKee (12 kills), Kaimis (11 kills, .500 hitting percentage) and Yanni Malo (13 kills, .600 hitting percentage, 2 aces) also had big nights. Malo earned Tournament MVP honors.
The pairings for both the NCAA Tournament and the ECAC Tournament will be announced on Monday.
